


Babies are a headache!

by morganloveswillsolace



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-20
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-29 02:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30149565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morganloveswillsolace/pseuds/morganloveswillsolace
Summary: Annabeth Chase has had an *awful* headache for an entire week. It feels like her brain has been pressed up inside her skull. When she wakes up, there's a tiny baby on her bunk! That's when she remembers how she was born. She was literally created out of her mother's mind; did that mean this baby... was hers?
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	Babies are a headache!

Annabeth had just about had enough. She had a gods-awful headache, and Percy and Jason would not stop bickering. She was currently seated in the infirmary, on one of the beds next to the door. Will and Nico spent most of their time here- but seemed happy enough to have something to do- given the infirmary was usually empty. Right now, though, Will seemed perplexed. “I really don’t know Annabeth,” He said, running his fingers through his messy golden curls. He wore a look of impotence, biting his lip in a frown; clearly, he wasn’t used to not knowing how to help someone in pain. “The best I can do is offer you some ambrosia or Ibuprofen.”

Annabeth sighed. She hadn’t really expected much- headaches were notoriously difficult to cure, especially for her. She got them all the time- and at one point, she’d thought they’d been linked to dehydration, but sometimes even drinking a whole bucket of water didn’t help. And yes, she was aware that it was ironic given the fact of her boyfriend’s father that she often forgot to drink water, but it was just a bad habit. “That’s okay, thanks, Will.” She told him, pressing her face to her palms. “Is it cool if I just sit in here for a little bit? Jason and Percy have been arguing about some dumb Avengers thing all morning, and honestly, I can’t take it anymore.”

Will and Nico both laughed, and Will nodded. “‘Course,” He said, jumping up to sit on the exam table. 

Nico shot him a look. “Why am I the one who’s organizing the supplies when you’re the medic?”

Will pouted. “You don’t have to be here if you don’t wanna be.”

Annabeth sighed. “You two are almost as bad as Jason and Percy!” She complained, rubbing her forehead. She got up. “I guess I’ll just go back to my cabin.”

The boys both giggled and went on arguing about whatever non-avengers thing they’d been talking about before she came in. 

She walked back to her cabin, shuffling her feet and letting the sunshine warm her face. Annoyingly, the bright light just made the pounding in her head worse. She finally reached her cabin and flopped down on her bed. At least nobody was in the Athena cabin presently; they were all tutoring the younger campers who stayed year-round. 

Annabeth buried her face into her pillow and blinked tears out of her eyes. She wasn’t usually a huge crier- but headaches that just wouldn’t go away just made her want to scream and break things. It was so infuriating- not being able to do anything except lie there in excruciating pain. Eventually, the numb tendrils of sleep wrapped around her, and the pain faded away as she fell asleep.

\----

Annabeth was pulled from her sleep when she heard a soft “Hmph mhmph hmph.” Rubbing her eyes, she rolled over. She felt something warm at her side, and thank the gods, her headache seemed to be gone. Her eyes-still blurry in the dark cabin, she reached for who she assumed was Percy coming to wake her up. 

She could not have been more wrong. 

When her hand reached out, expecting Percy’s, it was instead met with the feather-soft skin of a baby. Her eyes snapped open instantly, and surely enough, laying at her side was a tiny, whimpering infant. “Oh my gods!” Annabeth heard herself squeak, though she hadn’t intended to speak. The baby was wearing only a diaper, and Annabeth gently snaked her arms under its tiny pink abdomen. Lifting it up, she laid the baby’s head on her shoulder. ‘What do I even do? Who’s baby is this?’ She wondered frantically, her mind racing at a million thoughts a minute. 

After a moment of quiet deliberation- the baby had stopped whimpering as soon as Annabeth picked it up- she decided to go see Chiron. If anyone would know what was going on, it would be him. 

She cradled the baby to her shoulder gently, grateful that she’d had practice when Sally’d let her hold Estelle. She walked slowly towards the Big House and almost collided with Piper.

“Woah!” Piper exclaimed, moving to the side at the last moment mid-run. “I didn’t see you there! Are you o-” She broke off mid-sentence as her eyes moved up towards Annabeth’s shoulder. “What is that?”

Annabeth shot her a panicked glance and offered her a hand. After Piper stood up, her eyes widened. “Is that a real baby?” 

The blond nodded frantically. “I think so-” She said, glancing down at the baby who was breathing peacefully in her arms. She hadn’t looked at it since being in the dark, and it was then that she noticed the baby’s startling green eyes. Percy’s green.

That’s when she started hyperventilating. “You don’t think-” Annabeth’s voice died in her throat. She couldn’t make herself say the words. Piper bit her lip and moved behind Annabeth to get a better look at the baby. Her breath caught, presumably when she saw its eyes. 

“Annabeth-” She started, but Annabeth cut her off. “I know,” Annabeth said, gazing down in wonder at the baby that rested on her shoulder. 

“Let’s go to the infirmary,” Piper suggested, lacing her hand with Annabeth’s free one. 

“Okay,” Annabeth agreed, and let Piper pull her along back to the infirmary. 

In a blur, they’d reached the white-bricked infirmary, and Piper knocked on the door. “-know why you’re knocking, you don’t need to-,” Will was saying when he opened the door. The easy-going look he usually wore wiped off his face in an instant. “Annabeth? Wh…?” He trailed off, the unspoken question clear as day. 

“It just showed up in my bed,” Annabeth told him, biting her cheek anxiously. “I thought it was Percy at first when I heard someone-” Her voice broke. 

Will’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Let me see?” He asked, holding his arms out. Annabeth surrendered the baby to his arms and then felt herself being pulled into a hug. 

“It’s okay, Annie,” Piper told her, rubbing circles into her back. “You’ll be alright.”

Across the room, Will was taking the baby’s vitals. He pulled its diaper down for a second and then announced: “It’s a girl.”

Annabeth felt dizzy. She knew this was how she’d been ‘born’- her mother’s feelings for her dad had been so intense that bam! out popped Annabeth.

But Athena was a goddess.

Nico, who’d been sitting quietly on one of the cots since they came in, glanced over at the girls. “Do you want me to go get Percy?” He asked, pursing his lips. Annabeth felt tears well up in her eyes. She didn’t know if she wanted Percy to see her like this- she felt like she was on the verge of losing it. 

Piper answered for her. “Yes, please,” She told Nico, continuing to rub comforting circles into Annabeth’s back. 

A moment after Nico had stepped out, Will walked back over to the girls. “I don’t know what to tell you,” He said, wincing. “I hate saying that twice in one day. The baby is perfectly healthy. Weren’t you born from your mom’s- ” He trailed off. 

Annabeth nodded. “Yes-” Damned voice crack. “Yes, I was. ”

Will nodded and then proceeded to hand the baby back to Annabeth. She was startled to find that holding her felt as natural as breathing. She had yet to cry- ever since Annabeth had picked her up off of the bed she’d been silent aside from the occasional contented sigh. 

Then the infirmary door flew open. 

Percy.

Annabeth’s head was filled with relief so strongly her eyes went fuzzy. His hair was tousled from the wind, his sea-green eyes were tight with worry. “Annabeth,” He said as soon as he walked in, moving to wrap her into an embrace. “Are you okay?”

Of course, her stupidly perfect boyfriend would ask that first. She didn’t know what to say; her vocal cords felt frozen in her throat. She looked over to Piper helplessly. “Um-” Annabeth started, leaning into Percy’s chest. “She just showed up-,” Another voice crack. “In my bed. And I’d had an awful headache all week, but you already know that, and I’m almost certain she’s-”

She paced her breathing with the silent rise and fall of Percy’s chest, unable to make herself say the words. Percy pressed his face into her hair and kissed the crown of her head. “She has your eyes,” Annabeth told him, her voice wobbling. 

Percy stiffened. “Great, now I’ve officially scared him off,” She thought, and for the first time that day tears began to flow down her cheeks. 

“She does?” He asked, and his voice reminded her of how it had sounded when he’d first held Estelle at the hospital. “Can I- Can I hold her?”

Annabeth nudged his shoulder. “Of course you can, Seaweed Brain,” She breathed, twisting her torso to place the baby’s head into his arms. The calm delighted face Percy wore slowed her tears. For that moment, nothing else mattered in the world except the three of them. Percy’s eyes went straight to the baby’s, and when he saw that they were indeed his exact shade of green, they watered. Her eyes looked like a carbon copy of Percy’s; as if someone had hit control-v and pasted them onto her face. “She’s beautiful, Annabeth.”

Annabeth’s cheeks tinted pink. “She looks just like you.” She told him, her eyes flickering between their two faces. The baby had his nose and Annabeth’s lips, and the slightest wisp of blond hair.

They sat in silence for a moment; the only audible noise was their breaths. “Wow,” Percy breathed, his lips in her hair. He lifted the baby up to his face and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Are you mine, little one?” He murmured, gazing at her with absolute adoration on his face. 

“I-” Annabeth took a deep breath. “I think she is. Ours, I mean.”

Percy smiled at her, and his eyes flitted down to her face. She’d gone to him without so much as a pout, her eyes watching Percy contentedly. “Well, I mean,” Percy coughed, “Clearly she is. She looks exactly like us.”

Annabeth fought down a wave of anxiety. So there was no denying it at this point; this was her baby. Her child. Annabeth was a mom now. She was only seventeen- what responsible seventeen-year-old has a baby? And not to mention the fact that she was still a freaking virgin! She felt like Jane Villanueva 2.0.

“We should probably go talk to Chiron,” Annabeth said, looking up at Nico as she spoke. “Or do you think you could have him come here? I don’t want everyone to freak out if they see me carrying a baby around.”

Nico frowned. “Why am I the errand boy today?” He asked no one in particular, before lacing his fingers with Will’s and pulling him out of the infirmary.

“I’ll give you two some privacy,” Piper said from her side, and Annabeth pretended not to notice how pink the daughter of Aphrodite’s cheeks were.

“Jason’s probably wondering what’s going on,” Percy offered. “Nico kinda pulled me away in a hurry, and all he said was ‘Annabeth’ and ‘Emergency’. Could you explain to him what happened?”

Piper nodded as she quietly shut the door. 

Now that they were alone, Annabeth found herself wondering what she could possibly say. She knew that to have created this baby, she must be overwhelmingly in love with Percy. She knew this, but it didn’t feel real in her head. Not that she had a hard time believing she was in love with Percy; it was precisely the opposite- if there was one stable thing in the world, it was how much she loved him. He was more than her boyfriend- he was her best friend. He was the one person she trusted more than anything, and she knew he felt the same way. He’d proven that when he told her where his Styx spot was all the way back in the Battle of Manhattan. 

“Well, I guess you know I’m head over heels for you,” Annabeth said, twisting her neck to look up at him. 

“I thought we established that we were both head over heels for each other, Wise Girl. We fell into Tartarus together, remember?” Percy teased, his arm snaking around her waist. He pulled her closer to him, and she leaned her head against his chest again. 

“Oh my gods,” Annabeth half-whispered, her eyes widening as the thought registered in her mind. “What is Sally going to think?!”

Percy laughed. “I doubt this is the craziest thing she’s seen in her years. I don’t think you should worry about it. She already sees you as her daughter.”

For the second time that day, tears welled up in Annabeth’s eyes. “I can’t believe this is real,” She breathed, reaching down to run her thumb across the baby’s cheek. It was the softest thing she’d ever felt. “I really hope you aren’t going to be stubborn on names, Seaweed Brain because I am not naming my daughter some stupid name like Maryseth. And don’t give me that look! I heard you giving Jason name suggestions for his Sims characters.”

“But Hut was a good name! It has character!” He insisted, looking down at the baby he held in his arms. “But I will concede that she does not look like a ‘Hut’.”

Annabeth sighed and folded her arms. “What about Penny?”

“That’s boring.”

“What about Betty? And don’t call it ugly because I’ve liked that name for years. I also like Callista.”

Percy bit his cheek. “Hmmm,” He considered for a second. “Well, I actually- Well, I love both of those. Which one do you like better?”

Annabeth pursed her lips. “Callista is a greek name, so it fits, but Betty is so pretty!”

“I li-”

The door to the infirmary swung open for the third time that day. Chiron wheeled in, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Annabeth,” He sighed, crossing his arms. “So it’s true.”

Annabeth nodded and held her daughter up to Chiron, who had been followed in by Will and Nico. “May I?” He asked, stretching his arms out for the baby. She obliged, lifting the tiny infant up and placing her in his arms. He grunted, and his eyes widened when she immediately began to whimper. He leaned back towards Annabeth and let her pick her up. “Well, she certainly looks just like you two,” Chiron observed, his eyes settled on her face. “And clearly she knows who her parents are, given the fact that she stopped crying as soon as you were holding her.”

Annabeth nodded. “I don’t know how it happened- Me and Percy we- I mean, we never-”

Mercifully, Chiron cut her off. “I understand, dear. It is something only the most powerful of Athena’s children may perform. I have not seen something like this happen in millennia.”

Annabeth swallowed. All of her life, she’d felt like one of the lesser powerful demigods in the room. Sure, she was smart and strong, but not in any way that screamed ‘demigod!’ She didn’t have any special powers; unless you considered quick thinking to be one. Mortals could do all of that!

And now Chiron was telling her that she’d done something that a child of Athena hadn’t done in millennia? It felt… foreign. 

She knew she was special- one doesn’t just rescue a kajillion pound statue that had been missing for centuries and survive Tartarus unless they were- but to have an actual tangible power? It felt good. It was gratifying. 

Chion studied the baby’s face, and the five of them stood/sat in silence for a moment. “Annabeth will move into cabin 3,” He decided, pursing his lips. “Mr. D won’t like it, but given the circumstances, I’m sure he’ll understand. Annabeth, you ought to ask the Hephaestus cabin to build you any baby furniture you might need. You and Percy have my permission to go into the city to buy whatever is necessary for her. Clothes, diapers, bottles, and whatever else you might need. We have this-” He rummaged around in the pocket of his wheelchair for a moment and pulled out a shiny black credit card- “With nearly unlimited funds. You know how to use it.”

Annabeth nodded and tried not to laugh when she saw how excited Percy looked. “So, do you think we should bring her with us?” Percy asked, glancing down at the baby, who looked like she may start to fuss soon. “She only has a diaper, so I don’t know. But if we’re going into the city… Well, we should go see my mom.”

Chiron sighed, as if babies poofing out of thin air and having no clothes were an everyday occurrence. “Ask Mr. D; I’m sure he can conjure up an outfit for her to go to the city in.”

\----

And that’s how they ended up with a baby clad in a burlap sack. Needless to say, Mr. D was less than helpful.

“We need to pick a name,” Annabeth reminded her boyfriend, who was holding their daughter tightly between his arms as they sat in the camp’s van. “Do you like Betty or Callista better?” Annabeth asked him, resisting the urge to bite her lips anxiously as she waited for a reply. 

“I love them both, Annabeth. Really it’s up to you.”

Annabeth’s cheeks warmed. Percy really was perfect. 

“Callista it is then.” She decided, brushing her thumb over the little girl’s cheek. It was satiny soft and pink. 

“Callista,” Percy breathed, looking down at her with such love and adoration that Annabeth felt her heart squeeze in her chest. She felt like her heart had doubled in size- the amount of love she held for this tiny person she barely knew was unfathomable. She watched Callista take tiny breaths, her chest fluttering like a butterfly.

\----

They sat in the van, exchanging only a few words as they enjoyed each other’s presence. Annabeth hadn’t known it was possible to love two people so much- especially considering Callista was only a little baby- but she was perfect and beautiful and theirs.

Just as the soft drops of rain began to splatter on the windshield, they pulled up at none other than Sally Jackson’s apartment. 

“Ready?” Percy asked, and Annabeth’s heart somersaulted. 

“Ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.”

**Author's Note:**

> apologizing in advance for the title & summary- note to self- trying to write while talking and having family time do not mix well. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed it! I hope to update soon!  
> xoxo morgan


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